Rooney Player of the Year

Wayne Rooney was last night named PFA player of the year. He has had a great season and thoroughly deserved the award. He is injured at the moment but has promised that he will be fully fit for the World Cup and believes he may even be fit for Man United's last game against Stoke. It is good to see for English football, as often a foreigner has won the award over the last few years.

James Milner won the PFA young player of the year and again it is thoroughly deserved. He will surely be going to the World Cup after the season he has had and there hasn't been too many times this season when you can say he had a bad game. He picked up the award after scoring the winning penalty for Villa against Birmingham.

Frank Lampard may be hitting form at just the right time for England. As captain against Stoke Chelsea won 7-0. Lampard scored a brace and one of them was a sublime finish controlling the ball into the net with the outside of his boot from a cross. He also scored another penalty. It can only be good for England that at the moment we have players scoring penalties as our record in major tournaments when it comes to penalties is shocking at best In the same game Ashley Cole made his return and played a full 90. He was a little rusty as to be expected but has another 3 Chelsea games before Capello names his squad and I'm sure Capello would have been relieved to see him come through the game unscathed.

Harry Redknapp has been saying Capello should take Ledley King to South Africa. There's no arguing that King is a very good defender. But, with his injury history it makes it difficult to take someone like him to a tournament that is so intense and there is always game just around the corner. King can only play one game a week and only trains the day before a game, in that case how could he possibly be in the squad. It is too much of a risk. You would be better off taking his team mate Michael Dawson who has been in good form all year.

When it comes to that centre half position though I would really consider taking Sol Campbell. He has great experience, can always step in and do a good job and forwards rarely get the better of him. He is getting on but you need that calming influence and someone who has experience at this level during these tournaments. Plus, at all the major tournaments he has played for England in, he has always been one of our best players.

Seeing as Rooney and Milner both won awards last night it seems only right that I post videos of them.
Here's a good video of a Rooney compilation.



I couldn't find a Milner compilation so instead I just chose to post one of the many screamers he has scored this season. Enjoy.

Days flying By

So my prediction for Liverpool against West Ham couldn't have been further from the truth. West Ham were absolutely shocking and made it easy for Liverpool. Gerrard looked decent, Green had no help from the defense in front of him and Upson was playing by himself in the back four.

James Milner's performances have certainly caught the eye this year. Rumors today speculate that Man City are going to be making a big bid for him in the summer. He has had a great year but I dont think moving will help him or his international credentials. He plays every week at Villa in his new natural centre midfield position. If he moves to one of the bigger clubs I could see him being shoved out wide and not starting every game.

Although there is no English interest in the Champions League anymore, the Inter Milan and Barcelona tie today was interestign viewing with many players from that game to go to the World Cup. Barcelona went ahead and you would have expected them to go on from there. Milan though, under Mourinho, came back to win 3-1 and well deserved. Barcelona have a lot to do in the second leg and will have no Puyol as he will be suspended. He has been poor lately and will be playing for Spain in the summer. We saw that Messi is human as he was never really involved in the game. Xavi though continues to find passes that seem impossible and it is a scary thought that Torres and David Villa will be running on to them passes for Spain.

If England do meet Spain, then they are going to have to be on top of their game. It's a scary thought how much quality they have and then to top it off they have cover in every position. It is going to take either a special performance to beat Spain or a lot of luck.

It would be nice if this man didn't recover in time for the World Cup, his meant to be back in less than a month now, but I'm sure there would be a lot of non-Spainards very happy if he didn't make it.

Mixed Week For England Players

Last week saw one of the greatest individual performances I've ever seen by a certain Lionel Messi again as he just continues to put in remarkable performances. He scored all 4 of Barcelona's goals as they thrashed Arsenal 4-1 to reach the semi-final of the Champions League. His 1st and 3rd goals were something special. The first he smashed the ball into the top corner from 20 yards and the 3rd after racing through he had the audacity to chip the keeper completing his hat-trick in just the first half. He then scored again last night against Real Madrid to take his tally to 40 for the season. He is certainly the best in the world right now and is a player England would have to pay very close attention to should we meet Argentina.

England fans were delighted to see the unexpected return of Wayne Rooney a lot sooner than expected. He played 60 odd minutes last week in the defeat to Bayern Munich which ended all English teams competing in the Champions League this year. He went off with a knock on the same ankle after being the victim of a lot of special attention from the German side. It is nothing to serious although he did miss yesterday’s game against Blackburn he will be fine.

Another great bit of good news for England fans is that Ashley Cole will be ready to play before the end of the month meaning he will be able to play 3 or 4 games before Capello announces his squad. It will ease some stress from him and means he will no longer have to worry about the whole Wayne Bridge fiasco. Bridge should never be selected for England again I believe, he turned his back on his country.

John Terry showed there are no friends in soccer when Chelsea played Aston Villa on Saturday. He has been heavily criticized by Villa manager Martin O'Neill and John Carew for his tackle on fellow England teammate James Milner. Milner has a very good chance of starting in June with the performances he has been putting in and that right midfield spot is wide open. Theo Walcott, Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips are all other options but I don't think Walcott's good enough, his final ball is very poor 90% of the time and his first touch is shocking. Lennon has been injured since Christmas and it’s still doubtful if he will be back in time. Wright-Phillips is too hit and miss still, his either very good or very bad. For me I think I would start Milner he has really impressed this year and he has matured and improved.

I know this is meant to be a blog focusing on England but I had to post this video of Messi’s 4 goals. It also shows how Walcott has a poor final ball as he got really lucky with the poor ball that he played across for the Arsenal goal. It was an easy pass and he very nearly messed it up.